Usagi finds her life turned upside down thanks to her
double duties as bumbling student and Sailor Moon. Thankfully she’s slowly building a team to
help in her endevors: The brainy Ami and the Supernaturally gifted Rei. And there may be two more Guardian candidates
waiting to be found in the super strong Makoto and the glamourous Minako. But what about Tuxedo Mask, they mysterious
ally Usagi is quickly falling for? Is he
truly someone she can depend on or is there more to this handsome hero who may
or may not be hiding dark secrets?
While I was willing to forgive a few things about Sailor
Moon Crystal premiere beyond its iffy visuals, this set sees the show fall into
a few problems I feared it might have.
The introduction of new characters is handled with varied results and
the show is doubling down big time of the core romance of the series in all the
wrong ways.
It doesn’t feel like this is
an update of the original Sailor Moon more than it feels like its stepping
backwards and trying to be more “mature”, when in fact, its getting pretty
cringe worthy.
On the plus side, the gangs all here.
Makoto and Minako both made their big debuts
(actually Minako’s been around for a bit but I’ll get to that).
However, this is where the issues I was
worried about the show having began to emerge.
In the original series, Makoto is a force of nature.
Sure she’s got a penchant for lamenting the
loss of her “true love” but she’s still a beautiful bad ass who can handle
Monsters and Zoisite even before she got her Sailor Jupiter powers.
In Crystal, however, they down play that more
proud and powerful side of Mako in favor of her being super lovelorn and even
when captured she feels kind of powerless until Usagi inspires her.
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with Usagi
inspiring anyone, it’s what she does best.
But Mako wasn’t able to stand on her own and make nearly as thrilling
and fun a first impression as before, even if she did manage to finish of the
Monster of the Week in her episode with her own power.
As for Minako, like I said, she’s been around in a more
unofficial capacity for a few episodes.
Apparently she’s been secretly communicating with Luna and handing out
orders and objectives to her because Luna (and Artemis) believe she is the true
Princess of the Moon.
While we all know
that isnt true, this is one are where the want to go more mature benefits
Minako greatly.
We actually get to see
the burden thrust upon her as the one Senshi fighting longer than any of the
rest and needing to be the icon that is the Moon Princess for the others.
It’s a far cry from the fifth Senshi who just
showed up and was kind of just there for much of the original show without much
of a character arc until Sailor Stars.
Now, do I miss the beauty and boy crazed Minako?
I kind of do, not going to lie.
For all her aimless direction, Minako did
bring a bit of levity to the series and since its missing here, it only
highlights just how much of that kind of energy is missing from Crystal
overall.
Sure there are some comedic
beats here and there but a lot of that charming 90s comedy is almost completely
gone in favor of a more serious approach.
And suffice to say, I don’t think its working.
Nowhere is this more evident than with Usagi and
Mamoru.
Oh man, these two.
The only reason I even tolerate this romance
is because I love Usagi and we eventually get Chibiusa out of it.
Mamoru is more of a blank slate than before,
emotionless and just dead air whenever he’s on screen.
When it comes to his scenes with Usagi
though, oh…theyre…theyre not good.
Because of the accelerated pacing of Crystal, Usagi and Mamoru’s
antagonistic bickering is all gone and the pair quickly begin to swoon over
each other like this is a fairy tale on overdrive.
If you’re not a fan of this pairing like I
am, this is hard to watch.
It also does
a disservice to Usagi, making her rely too much on Tuxedo Mask’s presence to
win the day rather than relying on either her own growing experience or the
support of her friends and teammates. Usagi still demonstrates great strength
and her scenes with Mako in her first episode are full of heart and glimpses of
the old Sailor Moon fun.
I’m just
saying, Mamoru hasn’t done much besides be a creepy and silent stalker who just
appears, disappears and sneaks in kisses with Usagi while she’s sleeping…Usagi,
YOU CAN DO BETTER!!!! (I should note that Usagi was pretty enamored with Rei’s
beauty in her first episode, that made the slight Usagi/Rei shipper in me quite
happy).
Side note: All of the Four Kings are still around.
Beryl hasn’t killed any of them for their
constant failures and theyre just kind of chilling out while someone else slots
in for them.
I’m not against a potential
all out battle between these guys and the Senshi, there’s something else that
bothers me though.
Each member has had
some kind of moment before they were defeated and taken off the board about
some kind of attraction for the Senshi that defeated them.
I think I know where this might be going and
if it is, I definitely don’t like it.
I’ll get to it in the finale of this arc on Monday and I know I should
be asking this much more often but…is this really how it is in the Manga?
Side Side Note: Beryl looks hot as hell in
the updated design, she might even challenge Rei for hottest character and
that’s no easy feat.
I feel like Sailor Moon Crystal is trying so hard to
stand out from its 90s counterpart that it’s doing so at the cost of everything
that makes that show so legendary.
The
lack of comedy is increasingly noticeable and not in a good way.
Usagi and Mamoru’s romance is so rushed it
might as well be a Disney level one.
And
the personalities and best traits of some of the Senshi are either being
downplayed or downright sabotaged for no reason other than ramping up the
tension.
To say that this First Season has
had some rough patches is an understatement, and I thought the animation was
the worst part…it still is but there’s more to complain about. Next Time, we
see if Sailor Moon Crystal can somehow pull off a win with it’s First Season
Finale.
If not, well, there’s two more
seasons to try and get things right.
See
ya Next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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